recent experiments in listening to the same songs over and over and over (and over) again have proven that the following songs have pay little (to no) heed to the law of diminishing returns (which i actually know nothing about, having slept through an entire semester of a.p. economics in high school): destroyer's “painter in your pocket” and kenny loggins' “i'm alright”.
now, those i've talked to about this have completely ignored my musings on destroyer (citing lack of familiarity) and claimed, in regards to kenny, that zero of zero is zero. funny. but wrong!
but there are specific reasons why i have been able to listen to no other songs than these two for the last week, and i'd like to address them:
a) i purchased my first entire album from iTunes last week, destroyer's destroyer's rubies. it is very, very good. so good, in fact, someone over at pitchfork decided to spend more than 30 seconds on a strong and throughtful and dead-on review of it. the “endlessly catchy” track “painter in your pocket”, as matt lemay notes, “opens with a stark acoustic guitar intro, then unexpectedly builds up more bounce and swing than any Destroyer song to date. By the time the song reaches its final chorus, it has attained a blissful, sing-songy energy that hasn't really graced any Destroyer record since Streethawk.” iTunes reports i've listened to the track some 51 times to date, but the number is actually probably nearer 80 or 90, given the drives to and from work where i've listened to it on repeat. curious as to what it sounds like? think bowie, updated as a scarf-wearing vancouver hipster for your listening pleasure. it's available from iTunes and it will change your life. more destroyer gems, including the equally fantastic “european oils” (that guitar solo!) and “3000 flowers” (not to mention “an actor's revenge” from 2004's your blues) can be found on destroyer's myspace page.
b) knowing my (absolutely unabashed and not-ironic-at-all) affinity for hall and oates and michael mcdonald, my friends directed me over to channel101.com's yacht rock, a digi-cam spoof of all things '70s lite rawk. it's nearly flawless in its references, especially on episode three, where kenny loggins breaks with his yacht rock comrades over “i'm alright”. a new episode was recently added. watch episodes one through six and then get educated on how warren g.'s sampling of michael mcdonald's “i keep forgettin'” really went down. you, too, will realize after this a certain indisputable truth about our existence on this planet: the second coming is among us, and his name is kenny loggins.
also worthy of note: caught an excellent night of rock on monday at detroit bar. it was the final night of big bear-based rockers ann lynn's residency. at the end of a solid set of sweet, soft indie/country songs, they covered the faces' “ooh la la”, wilco's “jesus don't cry” and (shockingly!) peter gabriel's “mercy street” (so great!) and will probably go on to do bigger things than you or i will because their lead singer looks like henry thomas and sings like ben gibbard. openers slings were even better, decorating the stage with robotic dinosaurs and a volcano rigged with red christmas lights and a fog machine. they'll be at dipiazza's in long beach on april 5. in the meantime, check out jessica dobson at biola tonight (an early 8:45 show) and then the image bulletin at detroit bar afterwards (they go on at ten or so).
stay tuned: kevin from fielding now books and promotes shows at the prospector in long beach every first and last tuesday of the month. earlier this week we caught madman moon, next week i'll be back for brad lindsay. lots of great music happening around these parts in the next couple weeks. don't miss out.
and finally: coworker patty alerted me to a great site earlier this week. if you love peeps, you may want to tread with care. the good news is they don't have hearts: peep surgery.
and thus ends my innaugural post.
